complement

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmpləmənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmpləmənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Homophone: compliment (in some dialects)

From Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“I fill up, I complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun.^[1]

complement (countable and uncountable, plural complements)

1. The totality, the full amount or number which completes something. [from 16th c.]
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Queequeg sought a passage to Christian lands. But the ship, having her full complement of seamen, spurned his suit; and not all the King his father's influence could prevail.

   • 2009 October 30, The Guardian:

     Some 11 members of Somerton council's complement of 15 stepped down on Tuesday.

2. (nautical) The whole working force of a vessel.
3. (astronomy, geometry) An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle. [from 18th c.]
4. Something which completes, something which combines with something else to make up a complete whole; loosely, something perceived to be a harmonious or desirable partner or addition. [from 19th c.]
   • 1854, James Stephen, On Desultory and Systematic Reading:

     History is the complement of poetry.

   • 1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 255:

     It would be too much to imagine that improving stations will alone create a much needed new image in the public eye; a smartly turned out station staff is a very necessary complement to a smart station.

   • 2009 December 13, The Guardian:

     London's Kings Place, now one year old, established itself as a venue for imaginative programming, a complement to the evergreen Wigmore Hall.

6. (grammar, linguistics) A word or group of words that completes a grammatical construction in the predicate and that describes or is identified with the subject or object. [from 19th c.]
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 340:

     Why has our grammar broken down at this point? It is not difficult to see why. For, we have failed to make any provision for the fact that only some Verbs in English (i.e. Verbs like those italicized in (5) (a), traditionally called Transitive Verbs) subcategorize ( = ‘takeʼ) an immediately following NP Complement, whereas others (such as those italicised in (5) (b), traditionally referred to as Intransitive Verbs) do not.

7. (palaeography, phonetics) A phonetic complement is a graphic element that modifies another, such as (in Linear B script) a small syllabogram that is attached to a logogram as an abbreviation of its reading (as opposed to an adjunct that abbreviates an adjective that modifies that logogram).
8. (music) An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave. [from 19th c.]
9. (optics) The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light). [from 19th c.]

   The complement of blue is orange.

10. (set theory) Given two sets, the set containing one set's elements that are not members of the other set (whether a relative complement or an absolute complement). [from 20th c.]

    The complement of the odd numbers is the even numbers, relative to the natural numbers.

11. (immunology) One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response. [from 20th c.]
13. (logic) An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa. [from 20th c.]
14. (electronics) A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.
15. (computing) A bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number.
16. (computing, mathematics) The diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number.

    The complement of ${\displaystyle 01100101_{2}}$ is ${\displaystyle 10011010_{2}}$.

17. (computing, mathematics) The radix complement of a number; the two's complement of a binary number.

    The complement of ${\displaystyle 01100101_{2}}$ is ${\displaystyle 10011011_{2}}$.

18. (computing, mathematics) The numeric complement of a number.

    The complement of −123 is 123.

19. (genetics) A nucleotide sequence in which each base is replaced by the complementary base of the given sequence: adenine (A) by thymine (T) or uracil (U), cytosine (C) by guanine (G), and vice versa.

    A DNA molecule is formed from two strands, each of which is the complement of the other.

20. (biochemistry) Synonym of alexin.
21. (economics) Abbreviation of complementary good.
22. (now rare) Something (or someone) that completes; the consummation. [from 14th c.]
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

      perform all those works of mercy, which Clemens Alexandrinus calls amoris et amicitiæ impletionem et extentionem, the extent and complement of love […].

23. (obsolete) The act of completing something, or the fact of being complete; completion, completeness, fulfilment. [15th–18th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

      And both encreast the prayse of woman kynde, / And both encreast her beautie excellent: / So all did make in her a perfect complement.

24. (obsolete) Something which completes one's equipment, dress etc.; an accessory. [16th–17th c.]
    • 1591, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses [The Tears of the Muses]: Polyhymnia:

      A doleful case desires a doleful song,
      Without vain art or curious complements.

    • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

      Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement,

    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 42, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

      A man should be judged by himselfe, and not by his complements.

complement (third-person singular simple present complements, present participle complementing, simple past and past participle complemented)

1. To complete, to bring to perfection, to make whole.

   We believe your addition will complement the team.

2. To provide what the partner lacks and lack what the partner provides, thus forming part of a whole.

   The flavors of the pepper and garlic complement each other, giving a very rich taste in combination.

   I believe our talents really complement each other.

3. To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement.

• DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. →ISBN.

See compliment.

complement (countable and uncountable, plural complements)

1. Obsolete spelling or misspelling of compliment.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     A man of complements

complement (third-person singular simple present complements, present participle complementing, simple past and past participle complemented)

1. Obsolete spelling or misspelling of compliment.

Borrowed from Latin complēmentum. Cf. also compliment.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kum.pləˈmen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kom.pləˈment]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kom.pleˈment]

complement m (plural complements)

1. complement

• complir

Borrowed from French complément.

complement n (plural complemente)